On March 7, 2022, all eyes were on education director Silvia Steiner (64). Several members of the Zurich cantonal council wanted to know: “What measures does the governing council intend to take to ensure that sufficient teachers are available in primary schools in the coming years?”
In the run-up to the debate, the cabinet had announced that there was a task force for the teacher shortage. Green cantonal councilor Karin Fehr Thoma (59) asked the council: “We would like to know something about the considerations of the teacher shortage task force. Perhaps you have information about the work of this task force today, Ms. Steiner? According to the board minutes, Steiner then repeated what the board had already announced.
Panic in the schools
The situation escalated a few weeks later. The teacher shortage developed into a teacher shortage. Hundreds of vacancies could not be filled. Panic reigned in many schools. Steiner felt compelled for the first time to hire teachers who did not have “the usually required accreditation”. In the same communiqué, she announced that several measures would be taken with a medium to long-term horizon. One of these is the continuation of the teacher shortage task force.
Only: the task force did not meet at all. And to this day she hasn’t. The last logged session was on October 3, 2019, more than three years ago. This is apparent from the minutes of the meeting and other documents received by the observer under the Public Information Act.
This article is from “Observer” magazine. More exciting articles can be found at www.bewachter.ch.
This article is from “Observer” magazine. More exciting articles can be found at www.bewachter.ch.
Silvia Steiner is also president of the Conference of Directors of Education (EDK) and thus the highest education authority in Switzerland. The lack of teachers is one of their core files. How does she explain her miscommunication and the secret end of the task force? – After the last meeting in October 2019, the task force was in “constant bilateral exchanges”, writes Steiner’s spokesman. However, these discussions were not recorded, “unlike the formal meetings of the entire body”.
“Not capable of”
Cantonal councilor Fehr Thoma is surprised by this answer. She says: “It’s a disaster if you don’t continue a task force in such a crisis situation, contrary to other public claims.” It is further proof that as director of education, Steiner is unable to have structured discussions with key actors to solve the teacher shortage.
The chairman of the Zurich Teachers’ Association (ZLV), Christian Hugi (44), only learned from the observer that the task force had not met for three years. He, too, was surprised: “I assumed the task force would continue.”
Hugi himself was a member of this task force, along with representatives of the primary school, teacher training college, school board and the association of directors. They first met in January 2008. The committee met at least twice a year until 2019.
Shortage of teachers is now a matter for the boss
Shortly before the last official meeting in October 2019, Hugi left the task force – under protest, as he first explained to the observer. He criticized the fact that short-term measures were taken almost exclusively.
Structural measures are needed to solve the teacher shortage in the long term; for example, one has to adapt the task assignment and offer more support with integration. That has not happened to this day. The unresolved issues are one of the reasons why staff shortages in primary schools have become more acute over the past 15 years.
Now that the task force apparently only meets ‘informally’, the question arises: who is working on the concepts against the teacher shortage in the canton of Zurich? The spokesperson for the education department writes that Steiner has declared “certain matters” related to the teacher shortage a top priority and has therefore withdrawn from the task force’s authority. Several measures are “already in progress”. For example, the further development of career changer training, the admission requirements for teacher training and the adjustment of wages from kindergarten to primary school.
“Extremely slow”
This is hardly noticeable in schools. “Everything is going extremely slowly,” says Christian Hugi of the teachers’ association. “It is not yet clear how the teachers will be relieved so that they have more time for their core business, teaching and classroom management.” It is also unclear how the training of lay teachers will proceed when their contracts expire at the end of the school year.
Former task force member Hugi fears that there will be too few teachers next spring. Perhaps with a new director of education. The government will be re-elected in Zurich in February.